What You Don’t Want to Know About Nursing Home Abuse, Kentucky

When you put your children into a Louisville child care facility, you expect them to be safe and well-taken-care-of. You expect the same when you put your elderly parent into a nursing home.

Unfortunately, the chance that your parent will endure some type of abuse is alarmingly high.

The Prevalence of Nursing Home Resident Abuse

The following statistics appear on the website for the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA).

From 1999 to 2001, almost one third of nursing homes in the United States were cited for care standards violations that either caused actual harm to residents or had the potential to cause harm.

In the same period of time, about one tenth of U.S. nursing homes were cited for care standards violations that caused residents harm, seriously injured them, or put them at risk of death.

In a study of 2,000 interviews with nursing home residents, 44 percent stated that they had been abused and 95 percent said that either they had been neglected or they had witnessed another resident being neglected.

More than 50 percent of nursing home staff members said that they had abused or neglected elderly residents in the last year; two thirds of the incidents involved neglect.

In a survey of certified nursing assistants (CNAs), 17 percent admitted to pushing, grabbing, or shoving a resident; 51 percent admitted to yelling at a resident; and 23 percent admitted to insulting or swearing at a resident.

Of all the complaints about institutions to long-term care ombudsmen, 7 percent cited abuse, neglect, or exploitation.

Types of Abuse and Number of Complaints

According to a 2010 report by NORS Data, here is how much of these various types of abuse is occurring in U.S. nursing homes:

Physical abuse: 29 percent

Sexual abuse: 7 percent

Psychological abuse: 21 percent

Financial exploitation: 7 percent

Gross neglect: 14 percent

Resident-to-resident abuse: 22 percent

Implications of the Data

Private and government researchers agree that the system is broken. According to a 2006 report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services/Office of the Inspector General, “Studies of the process States use to detect, investigate, resolve, and prevent elder mistreatment in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and board and care homes are deeply flawed. As a result, the estimates of elder abuse and neglect are lower than the actual prevalence, and the processes must be strengthened to protect residents.”

No one should have to endure elder abuse in nursing homes. Contact the nursing home abuse lawyers at Gray and White Law if your loved one is a victim. Call us at 502-210-8942 or toll free at 888-450-4456 to set up a FREE, no-obligation consultation.

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